The Datastore API: a new way to store and sync app data

Today, we’re excited for you try out the beta release of the Datastore API — simple databases for your apps with Dropbox sync built-in! Use datastores to save your app’s data — settings, contacts, or any other content that users create — and Dropbox will take care of all the syncing for you. People who use your Datastore-enabled app can be sure their information will always be up-to-date and available, no matter what device or platform they use.

Stay in sync()

The Datastore API provides a new model for storing and syncing data beyond files. When you use datastores, you don’t have to build a complicated sync engine from scratch — you can add the power of Dropbox into your app in a snap!

Datastores work offline, too

With datastores, your app works great even without an Internet connection. When a user goes offline, your app can continue to work with all its data locally. The next time the user is online, Dropbox will take care of syncing things up.

Merge automatically

Forget conflicts and combining changes when people use your app from different devices. With datastores, Dropbox can now understand the structure of your app data and automatically merge changes made at the same time. For example, simultaneous edits to a contact’s phone number and email address will be merged without sync conflicts or any action from the user.

Code faster with the Datastore Explorer

The Datastore Explorer lets you see what’s going on in your app as the data changes to help speed up development and dramatically simplify debugging.

Get started

If you’re ready to dive in, explore our documentation and download the SDKs for Android, iOS, or JavaScript. Try it out and give us your feedback — we can’t wait to see the apps you build with the Datastore API!